Year 3 start project to animate Greek myth

This week, Year 3 have been very excited to start a new project as part of their computing lessons. Linking with their English and Humanities topic, the children will animate a Greek myth using the Stop Motion app on their ipads.

After much consideration, Year 3 decided to start at the beginning with one of the very first Greek Myths; ‘Stone Baby’. Some children also plan to animate the subsequent myth ‘King of the World, God of the Universe’, a story which explains how Zeus came to be the most powerful of all the Ancient Greek Gods. Through the course of their English lessons, the children have been reflecting on the features of myths and have noted how different versions vary. You may wish to ask your child to give you an oral rendition of the two story plots.

The children have been extremely excited to exercise their artistic flair. In pairs, they have planned the parts of the story that they wish to animate, using storyboards. They then began to fashion their characters (as they will appear when we first meet them) out of plasticine. They thought very carefully about the backgrounds that they needed for their animations and looked back over the stories for key descriptions. This informed what sort of landscapes they should create in their shoe boxes and what their characters should look like.

The Stop Motion app will allow the children to take a series of pictures, which, when put together, will appear as a movie. The more pictures the children take, and the more subtle their manipulations of the figures, the more fluid the movie will appear.